AFter a terrible "An unexpected journey" expectations to this one were high, like really high. Fortunatly, Peter JAckson lets his awesomeness do magic.
So "An unexpected journey" was... well.,... I mean, come on, there was singing!!! Great job to cut this out! Another improvement was that this movie is far more serious than the first one. However, there were some parts thta really annoyed me. (They drived me crazy) A huge problem with the movie were the billions of sometimes unnecessary storylines. They make the movie more exciting and they are rising the tension, but they really change nothing of the main-story. For example the storyline wiith this bear/troll/big-foot. He said he will distract the orcs, but after all the orcs are still chasing the dwarf-fellowship.
Another bad point is the immortality of Legolas. He kind of looks like a bumble-bee who kills orcs everytime anyone in middle-earth moves his/her finger.
And while talking of orcs, what the f*ck happened to those freaky and frightening creatures from LOTR? This looks like "God of War" or "Wallace and Gromit".

So those were the bad aspects, let's come to the positive parts.
The CGI is awesome!!! And I really think PJ is the only director in this world who acctually can make a movie with that much CGI look real. HIs directing in this movie is, moreover, great. Far, far better than in its predecessor. He cuts some of the huge landscapes shots and fills it with some brilliant close-ups. (I don't really care about 48 f/s)
A part which really amazed me was Smaug. He exetremly looks like he was in my imagination and Benedict Cumberbatch does a great job with his motion-capture-performance.

There are far more great parts, but you should check them out yourself after the jaw-dropping ending and the surprisingly good credit-somg by Ed Sheeran.